Notation
Note: The tunes below are recorded in what
is called “abc notation.” They
can easily be converted to standard musical notation via highlighting with
your cursor starting at “X:1” through to the end of the abc’s, then
“cutting-and-pasting” the highlighted notation into one of the many abc
conversion programs available, or at concertina.net’s incredibly handy “ABC
Convert-A-Matic” at

**Please note that the abc’s in the Fiddler’s
Companion work fine in most abc conversion programs. For example, I use
abc2win and abcNavigator 2 with no problems whatsoever with direct
cut-and-pasting. However, due to an anomaly of the html, pasting the abc’s
into the concertina.net converter results in double-spacing. For
concertina.net’s conversion program to work you must remove the spaces
between all the lines of abc notation after pasting, so that they are
single-spaced, with no intervening blank lines. This being done, the F/C
abc’s will convert to standard notation nicely. Or, get a copy of
abcNavigator 2 – its well worth it.[AK]

HUCKLE
AND BUFF. English, “Old” Hornpipe (3/2 time).
F Major. Standard tuning. AABB. The melody appears in Walsh’s Lancashire Jigs,
Hornpipes, Joaks etc. (c. 1730). Huckle and Buff, also called huckle-my-buffand huckle-my-butt, was a hot drink made
with beer, egg and brandy. The term is mentioned in many manuscripts from the
early 18th century. One such interesting record is that of the trial
of one John Cooper, a homosexual, who was mugged and robbed in London
in 1732 after a night of drinking, and who sought redress through the courts. A
witness at the trial, Margaret Holder, gave this testimony:

***

I keep the Night-
Cellar, the Prisoner came in about 10 at Night, and

staid till 2 in the
morning, and then the Prosecutor came in, and sat

down by him, and said,
"Your Servant, Sir; have you any Company

belonging to you, for
I don't love much Company?" Then they had 3

Pints of Huckle and Buff, as we call it, that's Gin and Ale made
hot;

and so about 4
o'Clock the Prisoner said he would go home, for his

Mother would be up,
and he might get in without his Father's Knowledge;

and the Prosecutor
said, "If you go, I'll go too"; so the Prisoner went up

first, and the Prosecutor staid to change a
Shilling, and went out after him.

HUDSON BAY BREAKDOWN, THE.
Canadian, Breakdown. C Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Composed by John Durocher.
Hudson Bay takes its name from the great English explorer Henry Hudson, who
“discovered” it in the year 1610. Hudson had hoped the huge bay was a route to
the Orient, but had his hopes dashed some months later when he found an
unbroken shore on the other side. His crew mutinied and set him and his son
adrift in a small boat among the ice flows. They were never heard from again.
Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle
Tunes), 1980; No. 15, pg. 16.

HUG THE BUNDLE. Irish, Single Jig. The tune comes from a transcription of the playing
of Co. Westmeath piper Joe Kilmurray (Ballallen, Ballinacarrigy). Drumlin Records BMNCD2, Brian McNamara – “Fort of the
Jewels” (2004).

HUGH GILLESPIE'S. AKA and see "Dowd's No. 9,"
"O'Dowd's No. 9," "Jackson's No. 9," "The Cow with the Crooked Horn,"
"Summer in Ireland." Irish,
Reel. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB'. Hugh Gillespie was a fiddler from
Donegal who played and recorded in the United States for much of his career,
settling in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with contemporaries and fellow
expatriates Michael Coleman, James Morrison and Paddy Killoran, Gillespie (who
was much influenced by Coleman) was one of the most influential fiddlers of his
generation. The tune is better known as “Dowd’s/O’Dowd’s No. 9,” attributed to
Sligo fiddler John O’Dowd. Source for notated version: fiddler Paddy Cronin (b.
1925, Co.Kerry, Ireland),
long a resident of Boston, Massachusetts
[Miller & Perron]. Miller & Perron (Irish
Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; vol. 3, No. 45. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd
Edition, 2006; pg. 75.

HUGH KELLY. AKA and see “Fly Not Yet.”
Irish, Planxty (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning. One part. Composed by
blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738) for Hugh Kelly of
Ballyforan, although whom this might be is not known as the name is so common.
Donal O’Sullivan believes this Hugh Kelly was actually the son of Hugh Kelly of
Ballyforan (1656-1689). Sir Thomas Moore used the melody for his song “Fly Not
Yet,” published in his Irish Minstrelsy, vol. 1 (1806). A song by
William Shield in his opera Robin Hood
(1784) has an initial four bars that are similar to “Hugh Kelly.” Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 71, pg. 62.

HUGHIE SHORTY’S REEL. Canadian, Reel. Canada;
Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island.
G Major. Standard tuning. AABB’ (Songer):AA’BB’ (Perlman). Composed by the late CapeBreton fiddler Johnny Wilmot
(1916-1993) for his friend Hughie Shorty MacDonald. Wilmot was from Northside, CapeBreton, a largely Irish community,
and his core repertoire was Irish, learned from local and recorded sources such
as Coleman, Morrison, Killoran, Gillespie and others. However, the Scots
influence was great on the island and he learned many Scots tunes in order to
play for dances and events outside his community. Wilmot was interviewed for
Cape Breton Magazine several decades ago and related how he learned from older
players as a young adolescent: "I never took any lessons. What we had to
do was—we heard a fellow, you know. There were lots of players around. When we
heard a tune, a fellow playing a tune, we could get it off him. We'd listen to
it. We wouldn't ask him for it. We would memorize it. Then we'd go and play
it." Ken Perlman (1996) states that on Prince Edward
Island the tune is played mostly in KingsCounty, but that a close relative is
played on the other side of the island in PrinceCounty under the title “The Dragger.” “Hughie Shorty” is a
mainstay of the CapeBreton
fiddle repertoire. The melody has similarities to William Marshall’s reel “Lochrynach.” Sources for notated versions:
Buddy Longaphie (b. 1950, originally from Souris, North-East
Kings County, Prince Edward Island)
[Perlman]; Jon Singleton (Seattle)
& Chris Roe [Songer]. Perlman (The
Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island),
1996; pg. 64. Songer (Portland
Collection), 1997; pg. 102.Avocet Records 104, Cathie Whitesides - “Hometown Cafe”
(1993). Breton Books and Music 002, Johnny Wilmot - “Another Side of Cape
Breton; Great Traditional Music from the Northside” (reissue). Culburnie
Records CUL 121D, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas – “Fire and Grace” (2004).

X:1

T:Hughie Shorty’s

R:Reel

M:4/4

L:1/8

C:Johnny Wilmot

K:G

G3B cABA|GABd g3f|ecc2 dBB2|cAAB
AGEF|\

GABd cABA|GABd g3f|ecc2 dBB2|cAFA
G4:||\

g3f gbag|e3c egfe|dBB2 gBB2|1 cAAG
ABcd|g3f gbag|e3c egfe|

dBB2 gBB2|cAFA G4:|2 cAAB AGFG| ECEG
DB,DE|GABd g3f|

ecc2 dBB2|cAFA G4||

HUGHIE TRAVERS’ NO. 1.Irish,
Reel. G Major. Standard tuning. AA’BB’. Hughie Travers was a flute player from CountyLeitrim who played in the Dublin
Metropolitan Garda Ceili Band, with whom he recorded a few 78 RPM records in
the 1930’s [Philippe Varlet]. The tune was popularized by the band Stockton’s
Wing, who also played a jig version of the tune. Source for notated version: New
Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill,
Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker]. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No.
131, pg. 40. Kitty Hayes – “A Touch of Clare.”

HUGHIE’S CAP. Irish, Reel. D Minor (‘A’ part) & D Dorian (‘B’ part). Standard
tuning. AA’BB’. Composed by County Cavan/Philadelphia fiddler and composer Ed
Reavy (1898-1988). Hughie, according to a story by Reavy, was an easygoing
character who could look particularly menacing when he wore a particular cap,
and when intimidation was needed apparently Hughie was the man to call. Reavy (The Collected Compositions of Ed Reavy),
No. 26, pg. 27.

X:1

T:Hughie's Cap

M:2/2

L:1/8

C:Ed Reavy

R:Reel

N:A favorite story of Ed's tells of Hughie, an easygoing

N:sort who had a fierce look when he wore a certain cap.
Friends would

N:take Hughie along whenever a fight was anticipated. One
look from

N:Hughie and his cap would silence the most quarrelsome
bullies. One

N:night, as it would happen, Hughie's friends found
themselves in the

N:worst sort of mix and quickly looked for Hughie's help.
But Hughie,

N:alas, had ventured out this time without his menacing
capeen. "Oh God,"

HULL
DOCK MARCH.English, March (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Hull
is a large port town at the junction of the Hull
and Humber Rivers in Yorkshire’s East Riding, and was at
one time the third largest port in England.
The first dock at Hull was built in
1778, making the loading and unloading of ships much easier, as prior to the
completion of the structure all such activity took place by means of lighters
while ships anchored in the Humber. A second dock was
added in 1809 and was called the Humber Dock, and it is this that the title of
the march probably commemorates. Gibbons originally set the tune in the key of
‘C’ major. Source for notated version: the 1823-26 music mss of papermaker and
musician Joshua Gibbons (1778-1871, of Tealby, near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
Wolds) [Sumner]. Sumner (Lincolnshire
Collections, vol. 1: The Joshua Gibbons Manuscript), 1997; pg. 11.

HULL'S VICTORY [1]
(Buaid Mic Uill).
New England; Hornpipe and reel. USA; Maine, New Hampshire, New York. F Major
(Brody, Burchenal, Cole, Ford, Linscott, Miller & Perron, Phillips, Sweet,
White): D Major (O'Neill, Shaw, Sweet). Standard tuning. One part (Burchenal):
AABB (most versions): AA'BB (Phillips). This title commemorates Hull's victory
off the coast of Nova Scotia in the War of 1812. An American hero, Captain
Isaac Hull was commander of the frigate USS Constitution ('Old Ironsides'),
which engaged the British frigate HMS Guerriere under Captain Richard Dacre in
fierce combat in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, about 750 miles out of Boston. The
battle lasted 55 minutes and left 101 dead. With the Guerriere dismasted and
smashed beyond salvage, Captain Dacre struck his colors and surrendered to
Hull’s boarding party.The
Constitution, heavier and more solidly built, suffered little damage and only
14 casualties. The impact of the clash, however, was to shock the British
Admiralty and hearten America and the fledgling American Navy in the dark days
of the War of 1812.

The melody is similar to an old
English drinking song and a Scottish dance tune, according to Bronner (1987),
and started life as a ballad, though soon entered enduring popular tradition as
a dance tune, which he maintains is one of the earliest contra dance melodies
composed in America. Paul Wells, of the Center for Popular Music/Middle
Tennessee State University, has found an untitled version in a fife manuscript
begun in 1807 (which may or may not date the tune, which may have been entered
later). It can be found in Elias Howe's 1842 Musician's Companion, Part 1. Burchenal (1918) prints a New England
contra dance of the same name as the tune, and Linscott (1939) confirms both
the tune and dance's popularity in the region. The title appears in a list of
traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist
Vance Randolph, published in 1954. The title appears in a list of Maine fiddler
Mellie Dunham's repertoire and was recorded by him in the 1920's or early
1930's. The elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late
1920's.

***

There is a New England dance of the
same name, to which this tune was the accompaniment, that travelled far beyond
the orders of the region. Lloyd Shaw, in his book Cowboy Dances (1943), writes:

***

It would shock my New England friends to hear an old Colorado

Rancher ask me if I ever danced Hell’s Victory. From his description

I was sure of the dance and told him it was Hull’s Victory, not Hell’s—

HULL'S VICTORY [2]. American; Reel. USA, Maine. D
Major. Standard tuning. AB (Bronner): AABB' (Phillips). A variation of version
#1. The source for this version, Alanson Mellen Dunham, was a Maine fiddler who
won Henry Ford's national old‑time fiddler's contest in 1925, and was
subsequently promoted by him in recordings and concerts all over the country.

HUMANSVILLE.Old-time, Breakdown. USA, Missouri. C Major. Standard tuning. AA’BB’.
The title refers to a place-name from the Ozarks, the town of Humansville, Polk
County, Missouri. Similarities to the Kentucky “Fun’s All Over,” and “Hold Old
Baldy While I Dance with Josie,” and Nebraska fiddler Bob Walters’ “Padgett.” Source
for notated version: Fred Stoneking (b. 1933, Missouri), learned from Dean
Johnston, who may have learned it from Shorty Pruitt, a resident of Humansville
[Beisswenger & McCann]. Beisswenger & McCann (Ozark Fiddle Tunes),
2008; pg. 138. Rounder CD 0381, Fred Stoneking – “Saddle
Old Spike” (1996). Rounder 0436, Earl Ball – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the
Ozarks, vol. 2: On the Springfield Plain” (Ball is a resident of Humansville
and learned the tune from his grandfather Bishop).

HUME CASTLE. Scottish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning. John Glen (1891) finds the
earliest printing in Daniel Dow's c. 1775
collection(pg. 20). A tune called
“Hume Castle” also appears in the Thomas Calvert Collection of 1799. Calvert
was a musician from Kelso, Scotland (near Hume), and a note with the
collection states that Calvert supplied “a variety of music and instruments,
instruments lent out, tun’d and repaired.” Hume Castle was once the seat of the Hume/Home family, and the original
structure dates from the 13th century. The medieval building was
destroyed by Cromwell's artillery in 1651. In 1794 the Earl of Marchmont built
a new castle on the same foundations, however, it appears that it was never
completed (or only meant for show) and remained only a shell that may be seen
today from Marchmont and other points in the border region between Scotland and
England. The castle site commands exquisite views and was used as a lookout and
beacon station from the Napoleonic Wars through World War II.